


What The Future May Bring

by Yukito



Category: Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-10
Updated: 2014-12-10
Packaged: 2018-02-28 20:57:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2746787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yukito/pseuds/Yukito
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After John disappears, how does everyone cope with the knowledge of Skynet looming over them still?</p>
            </blockquote>





	What The Future May Bring

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Amilyn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amilyn/gifts).



John was gone. Sarah had to hope that the time machine worked and that he really was somewhere in the future because the alternative was something she didn’t want to stomach. Over the years she had gotten good at compartmentalizing and keeping her mind focused on what she wanted it to be on. Still, it was hard. A mother could never forget her son.

“What are you doing?” James’ voice sounded surprise as he walked into the living room to find Sarah Connor sitting on the couch. In front of her was a myriad of guns as various stages of dismantling as she cleaned part of a shotgun. His eyebrows remained up as he closed the front door.

“What does it look like I’m doing?” Sarah didn’t look up as she continued to clean. This was a normal Sunday afternoon.

“I know what it is that you’re doing, I’m just trying to figure out why you’re doing it here and now.” 

James placed the groceries on the dining table as he looked at Sarah with disbelief. It seemed like every day this woman did something that was completely opposite to what most people would think of as good judgement. When Sarah didn’t answer, he pressed on.

“Savannah’s just in the other room,” He said.

Sarah looked over at him briefly. “So?”

“So, she’s just a child. She shouldn’t be around weapons like this. It’s dangerous.” He said with a sigh.

Sarah rolled her eyes. “John was around guns younger than she is. He even knew how to shoot one.”

“Savannah’s not John, Sarah.”

Sarah knew that all too much. When John was born, she had thought it hard raising a boy. In reality, it was raising a boy with the weight of the future that had been hard. Savannah had no set future like John had and Sarah found raising a girl to be far more challenging. Guns and action figures she understood, but dolls and make up seemed like foreign concepts to her now. There had been a time when she was young, before the Terminator came into her life, where she understood that sort of thing. That was a completely different life now, it seemed.

“I know that.” Sarah said as she stopped cleaning the shot gun. “But she was living with a Terminator who’s far more dangerous than all of these combined, so I think she’ll be okay.”

James wanted to argue. It wasn’t Savannah’s fault a machine took over her mother’s face, but looking at Sarah’s hardened expression, he knew there was no reasoning with her. He nodded and went to unpack the groceries. 

“I bought tacos for dinner.” He said.

Tacos were Savannah’s favourite. That night as they sat around the dinner table like a pseudo-normal family, Sarah couldn’t help but watch the little girl eat. Tacos reminded Sarah of the time she spent in South America with John, learning everything she could about war and protecting yourself. Early on John had sat across from her like Savannah, eating tacos happily looking just as care-free. Sarah couldn’t remember the exact date when John’s expression turned heavier and more burdened, but it wasn’t much older than Savannah was now. Sarah had to wonder how much longer Savannah had until she truly lost her innocence.

~*~

It was four days after the dinner that the machines found them. The neighbour’s dog was the first to draw Sarah out of her light sleep. Something was wrong, she could feel it. She went into James’ room, handgun drawn, and nudged him awake.

“Sarah?”

“Shh....” Sarah was hardly visible in the darkness of the room. “Something’s wrong. Get Savannah.”

Sarah was gone before James’ feet hit the floor. That woman, he thought, moved like a ninja. He put on his clothes haphazardly in the dark, grabbed his side-arm, and headed for Savannah’s room. She was sleeping so peacefully he paused – was it really worth waking her up if something wasn’t wrong?

The sudden sound of the bay window shattering caused James to reach for Savannah automatically. She groaned sleepily as she was jarred awake.

“It’s okay, sweetheart.” James whispered despite the fact his heart was racing, “Everything’s going to be just fine.”

“What is it?” She asked groggily.

“Just hold onto me and keep your eyes closed, okay?”

James headed for the back door. They had practiced this drill over a hundred times and he was finally thankful that Sarah had insisted on it. The car they had for a quick escape already had the keys in the ignition. James placed Savannah in the back seat as multiple shots were heard coming from the house. 

Turning the ignition, he glanced in the rear view mirror. He wasn’t supposed to wait, but he didn’t want to leave Sarah with whatever was in there with her. His foot hovered over the gas, lingering, waiting, until suddenly bullets broke the glass of the bed room upstairs and Sarah came rolling out. She ran down the roof, falling heavily on the roof of the car, and then made it into the car, bloodied, but alive. 

James hit the gas, speeding off as he caught sight of what looked like a tall, burly man climbing out of the bedroom window.

“Are you alright?” He asked.

Sarah glanced over to Savannah who was now wide-eyed and awake. “You shouldn’t have waited.”

~*~

The machines had their day. Despite trying to change the future both in the past and in the future, the war could not be stopped. Cities burned, people died, and the Resistance survived. John often wondered what it would be like if he had lived through it. He heard other people’s explanations and felt guilty he had skipped it. Life wasn’t great now, but at least there was organization, a network of people, and a leader - Kyle Reese.

It was hard not to think about the ramifications that he seemed to be the only ‘John Connor’ in existence. His father would never be sent back to conceive him and he would never have been born. What that would change, John didn’t know, but he knew there was no going back.

On a recon mission into a sector known as one of Skynet’s strongholds, he came across a building that still managed to be intact. Places like these often meant a warehouse of materials for the machines and something incredibly useful for the Resistance. Upon entering, he heard strange noises coming down the hall.

“What are you doing?!” John, with pointed gun, watched as a red-headed woman was straddling the back of a Terminator.

The woman looked up, surprised, then put her finger to her lips. She completed the few alterations to the terminator and stood up.

“There,” She said with a smile. 

“What were you doing?” John took another step forward, gun still pointed on the woman.

“Really, John. Mom used to say you played with them all the time.”

John’s brow furrowed. “Mom?”

She looked back at him. “Well, your mom... but she raised me. Sarah Connor” The woman peered at John a little more. “You look just how I remember you. I must have finally caught up.”

John’s head was spinning. It took him a long moment to realize what was happening. “Savannah?” She looked so... grown up.

Savannah smiled. “It’s nice to meet you again.”

Suddenly the Terminator started to move. 

“Watch out!” John shouted as he took a step to put himself in between Savannah and the machine. The Terminator rose to its feet.

“It’s okay.” She said as she put her hand on John’s shoulder.

The Terminator looked at one, then the other. “Hello Savannah. Hello John.”

Savannah smiled again. “Hello, John Henry.”


End file.
